Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 4.djvu/531

 sions were to be procured, and that Ismael the Turk, an old man, and Georgis the Greek, almost blind, required an additional consideration, so long as it possibly could be done with safety to us all; but, when we should advance to the borders of the desert, we must all resolve to pass that journey on foot, as upon the quantity of water, and the quantity of provisions alone, to be carried by us, could depend our hopes of ever seeing home.

the 8th of September we left the village of Soliman, and about three o'clock in the afternoon came to Wed el Tumbel, which is not a river, as the name would seem to signify, but three villages situated upon a pool of water, nearly in a line from north to south. The intermediate country between this and Herbagi is covered with great crops of dora. The plain extends as far as the sight reaches. Though there is not much wood, the country is not entirely destitute of it, and the farther you go from Sennaar the finer the trees. At Wed el Tumbel there is great plenty of ebony-bushes, and a particular sort of thorn which seems to be a species of dwarf acacia, with very small leaves, and long pods of a strong saccharine taste. This is here in great abundance, and is called Lauts, or Loto, which I suspect to be the tree on whose fruit, we are told, the ancient Libyans fed. At a quarter past three we left Wed el Tumbel, and entered into a thick wood, in which we travelled till late, when we came to the Nile. We continued along the river for about 500 yards, and alighted at Sit el Bet, a small village about a mile's distance from the stream. Here we saw the tomb of a Shekh, or saint, built of brick in a conical form, much after the same figure as some we had seen in Barbary, which were of stone.